Microphones

Hi Cass. Remember me? You wrote:
Thanks for the advice ! Sorry im a newbie when it comes to this ! would I use a mic for just filming voice over or can I conect it to my camera when filming sit down videos ? Cheers

I came across this posting of yours but couldn’t seem to find your original question. However, it appears you are asking for advice on getting a microphone. I seem to recall that you video yourself – or someone else – promoting beauty products??? I have a lady acquaintance here in the UK that does this sort of thing.

Several folk have named their favourite mics but, apart from that, not a lot of general practical advice. It’s natural for anyone to say that the mic they have is the best. (Same with cars I suppose).

Let’s start from the beginning. Has your camera got an input for an external mic? (I know little about all the latest cameras and don’t own a DSLR) Assuming your camera does have a mic input, I will take it that the input socket is the ‘mini-jack’ sort. Top end semi pro video cameras and pro cameras have what is known as XLR inputs. There are technical reasons but generally these XLR connections are a lot more robust. Don’t worry about it.

Again assuming your camera does have a suitable input then there must be hundreds of suitable mics from the very cheapest to the over the top expensive. Let’s ask another question. Does you camera have manual audio controls or is it fully automatic? Generally speaking, having manual control over the sound input is best although fully automatic is OK most of the time.

I do quite a lot of ‘voice-overs’ and always record direct to my camera and not into the computer. Some may well tut-tut over this, but it suits me and gives me the quality needed. I NEVER use the built-in mic on the camera but always use a separate plug in model. Lets mention a couple of points on mics. Generally they can be divided into the OMNI-DIRECTIONAL and the UNI-DIRECTIONAL. In the simplest of terms the OMNI picks up sound from all around whilst the UNI picks up sound mainly from in front of the mic. I think most would advise getting the UNI type. These mics. are frequently called ‘Shotgun’ mics for fairly obvious reasons as they are generally long & slim.

Another type of mic. is the ‘Tie-clip’ or ‘Lavalier’ mic. These are small and unobtrusive and mainly of the OMNI type. And are seen a lot on TV news presenters. Again, they can be very cheap or very expensive. At first sight you may well feel one of these could be ideal however, remember that the mic is attached to you AND the camera and sooner or later you will walk away . . . and accidents will happen. (Yes it has happened to me). We wont go into discussing radio mics here.

Now lets assume you have finally got an add-on external mic. This can be attached to the accessory shoe on the camera - if your camera has one – otherwise there are many camera brackets that can be obtained with one or more ‘shoes’ on them. Another item you might find handy is a stand with a mic holder on the top. Thus you can have the mic near to you with the camera away. It’s quite often mentioned that for the best voice quality, have the mic as near to you as practical. For instance, if the camera is (say) 10 feet away having the mic on a stand just out of shot about 3 ft away will give you a better audio result. Clearly this means the mic cable is long enough or getting a suitable one.

I must say here that the subject of audio generally is a vast complex subject and many books and articles have been published on this over the years. Just thought of something . . . Some mics need a small battery to work and this can be switched on/off. Therefore always have a set of headphones to check that the camera is actually recording the sound. There are so many advantages to using headphones to check sound but I wont go into that now.

What mic is best? Impossible to answer really but one name mentioned in postings here and that is Rode. They make a wide range of suitable mics and are generally spoken very highly of. For high quality at a ‘reasonable’ price they compare well to very highly priced professional mics. I don’t have any of this make myself but friends do say how good they are. Look them up on the web and study their range of products. Don’t rush into spend money until you are sure what you need and want.

When I’m recording a voice-over after the video has been made and edited, I put my camera in front of me and read the prepared script with as many takes as needed. Then I import these audio files to my video-editing programme and arrange them as required.

Sorry this is a bit long winded but hope this basic gen will be of help. Always be pleased to discuss further if you wish.
Pete.

 

Ahhh there are so many!

 

I use a Rhode Video Micro

 

I think that the blue yeti is the best for youtube amazing list nice research

 

I use Novox NC-1, it's really good condenser microphone.

 

We just got some cheap one from PC World for the time being as the in built mic is good enough till we can afford a better one!

 

Currently using just headphone mic, even with all the noise cancellation and restoration in the world still get a lot of feedback that the quality is p**s poor, so looking into a new one when I can afford it. First I thought about getting the Razer Seiren since they offer it on discount with the Sponsorship program, but after looking in the mic quality tests it seemed way overpriced for what you're getting... then I planned on getting the audiotechnica a2020, but wasn't available for shipping to my country (sigh), so went to the a2035, and got rejected again.... fml!!

Well I found out that the blue yeti supports the middle of the African desert if need be, so will get it ASAP.

 

I'm currently using a cheap headset mic also and the background noise kills my videos, I tried using a Shure SM57 in my latest video but its such a quiet mic i really needed to turn up the gain on it as it came out very hard to make out the vocals over the explosions in the game. I'll try it again in my next video and hopefully get better results.

 

If you're low on a budget, the Blue Snowball in my opinion is your best bet. It's what I use for my videos, and I also use it for podcasting. Works GREAT!